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The Terror of Bollywood

With Hollywood shying away from Islamist villains, it's up to Indian films to give them a showing.

By

Arun Venugopal

Updated March 9, 2010 12:01 a.m. ET

"The Hurt Locker" may have won big at the Oscars this week, but for movie fans outside the U.S., the night was a bust. With a paltry $4 million in earnings overseas, hardly anyone saw the film. One reason: Like other post-9/11 pictures about Iraq and the global war on terror, Kathryn Bigelow's was weighed down by dull historicity and an obsession with America's conduct in the war. Such movies often fail to address the core issue: Islamic radicalism. Enter Bollywood.